CANTON, Ohio — It was still in the coffee hours of Friday morning when Luke Kuechly stopped in between appointments at the Pro Football Hall of Fame to talk with the Hall's English ambassador, Steve Flack.

Flack "volunteers" at the Hall for several hours a day, three or four days a week via video call from his home in London (England, not Ohio), talking to fans about football history. After a few moments chatting about the Panthers playing at Tottenham in 2019 and being part of the Germany game in 2024, Kuechly had other rounds to make, so he said goodbye to Flack and turned with a grin.

"Feels like I'm at Disney World," Kuechly said.

For Luke Kuechly and so many other people, it kind of is like that here.

The former Panthers linebacker is here for a weekend trip alongside fellow enshrinees Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, and Roger Craig (Adam Vinatieri had a conflict), where he's learning about and preparing for his upcoming enshrinement in August. And if it's not the Happiest Place on Earth, it's pretty close for football people.

The day was filled with instructions, scheduling (Kuechly took notes just like he was in a linebackers meeting during his playing days), and a lunch with the Hall of Fame's staff, which included a brief Q&A.

Of course, someone asked the former Saints quarterback and Panthers linebacker what it was like to play against each other, and what followed was about 15 minutes of graduate-level Xs and Os from two of the best to ever do it (More on that later on Panthers.com.)

When they finished their near chapter-and-verse recitation of eight years of back-and-forth (8-8 regular season records, Saints won the playoff game in 2017), Kuechly laughed.

"That's some football nerd stuff," Keuchly said. "But it is cool."

There were plenty of people who thought so, too.

Chris Perry drove up from New Bern, N.C., with some coaching buddies, who are going to the Ohio State spring game tomorrow (to see former player Terry Moore, a Buckeyes safety). They were at practice yesterday, and with a day to fill, they made the two-hour drive to Canton to see what they could see. He had no idea he was going to see his favorite player.

"When they told me the class was here, I was like 'What class?'" Perry said in disbelief. "This is the coolest thing ever, seeing him here. My wife would geek out if she knew he was here, probably because she thinks he's cute."

And there are plenty of people who agreed with them, too. Running into a Hall of Famer is a thing that happens sometimes at the Hall of Fame, so you might be a kid wearing a Joe Burrow jersey between games at his sister's softball tournament, and you might be standing side-by-side with another Cincinnati kid, as Kuechly graciously posed for pictures throughout his day.

But as he went through the tour, he also had flashbacks to his younger days.

He came as a visitor when he was in middle school with his friends, but he also played in the adjacent stadium when he was a junior at St. Xavier High School. It was known as Fawcett Stadium then (it's now Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium), and Kuechly's memories of that game were just as vivid as his back-and-forth with Brees.

As he stood in warm spring sunshine at the place where he'll give an eight-to-10-minute speech in August (he got instructions on that Friday as well), he remembered a much different night.

The short version was that on Dec. 1, 2007, St. X beat Mentor for the state title, but Kuechly's version wasn't the short one, from name-checking Mentor quarterback Bart Tanski (Ohio's Mr. Football that year, who now coaches at Kent State), to the layout of the building.

"It was a really cool experience, but it was cool walking out there today and walking into that field because it's a very different stadium than what Fawcett Field was," Kuechly began. "And I was talking to somebody about it today. That evening was the most perfect night for a high school football state championship game. We're in Northern Ohio, at the Hall of Fame, on Fawcett Field. It was cold. It was chilly, and I remember we went in after pregame warm-ups, and it was cold, and the excitement's there, and then you get into the locker room and you kind of start looking around. The nervousness starts to set in; the anxiety sets in. Our coach came in, gave a great speech, and then I remember walking out into the stadium. You come out of the locker, and you turn right, and you can see the field.

"And I remember being so nervous because I said, hey, we have to win this game, and I have to play well for these older guys because they deserve to win, they deserve the state championship. And I remember the one thing that calmed me down when I walked out, it was snowing sideways. And for whatever reason, it calmed me down and put a smile on my face, and it was the most perfect atmosphere and energy for a high school game that I ever played in. So I remember being nervous and anxious and walking out of that locker room and turning right and seeing the lights at Fawcett Field on the home side and the snow coming down, and for whatever reason, it calmed me down."

Of course, St. X beat Mentor 27-0 to cap a 15-0 season, one of the first of many steps that led Kuechly back to this place Friday.

"So it's really cool," he said. "It kind of comes full circle, and it was a super unique opportunity to play a game at an awesome place up here in Canton."

There's all kinds of other cool stuff here too. Like a fitting for a very special jacket, and so much more.

Jon Kendle, the Hall's vice president of museum and archives, brought Kuechly his original draft card from 2012. Kuechly wasn't there in New York when the commissioner called his name, spending the weekend that brought him to Charlotte with his family in Cincinnati.

Oh wow, that's the draft card the team turned in," Kuechly said, as his mother Eileen said, "Oh my gosh."

"I think that's one thing that's cool about the NFL is they still do a draft card," he said of the analog artifact. "That to me is cool."

While he was here, Kuechly took a few moments to step into the gallery where his bronze bust will be. At least until the Hall renovates to make more room, he'll be right across from his former teammate Julius Peppers, who surprised him at his house in January to deliver the news.

And as they did in Kuechly's kitchen, they can stare at each other — wordlessly if they choose, and with these two, that's possible — or maybe have one of those late-night conversations with the bust of Sam Mills that's just steps away.

"We're all within like five or six feet of each other, that's pretty cool," Kuechly said.

But there were more meetings to attend to, so Kuechly hustled off to prepare.

As he left, a woman named Becky, who volunteers at the Hall, smiled and waved.

"Welcome to your new home," she beamed, as Kuechly headed down the hall to his next engagement.

"He's just so cute," she turned and said as the second-youngest Hall of Famer walked away. "I'm so happy he's been here before, and now he's back."